The Political Junkie offers an outside-looking- in view of the US. Each day, we will highlight news and opinion pieces from around the world that are focused on US politics and policy. Agree or disagree with the opinions you will read but take a few minutes to see yourselves as others see you.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

The US economy is improving--who will get (take) the credit?

It's (Almost) Morning in America

A surging economy is great news. Especially for the next president.

The day after last Tuesday’s
debate, as I was monitoring the Twitter feed for the post-debate debate,
some news flashed across the screen that elicited more than one
tweeted, all-cap, “WHOA!” Housing starts in September surged to their
fastest pace in four years, up 15 percent over August, far exceeding the
experts’ predictions. In the diurnal bickerfest over Candy Crowley and
Benghazi, liberals and conservatives agreed that this was impressive
stuff.

It’s
not the only recent good tiding. We all know about the 7.8 percent
unemployment rate, the lowest in four years. OK, conservatives, cavil if
you wish. But it’s the unemployment rate we have, and to most normal
people cheering for America, it’s welcome news. Weekly jobless claims in
the week after the unemployment rate was announced were far lower than
expected. And then came the announcement that consumer confidence is at a
five-year high.

There’s
more: the Federal Reserve is now seemingly committed to low interest
rates and fiscal stimulus well into the future, and some Fed officials
have even spoken (no!) of letting inflation get above 2 percent if
that’s what it takes to bring unemployment down further. In its
mid-October unemployment report, Gallup, which surveyed 30,000
households, found that the jobless rate was heading in that happy
direction, indicating perhaps that the September number was not a fluke.